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Monday, March 12, 2007

****Every Bjork album is extraordinary, but Volta, her latest, features a mind-boggling set of collaborators, moods and motifs. Right-hand man Mark Bell is on-side once again, but the guest list also includes hip-hop ace Timbaland, kora master Toumani Diabate, Antony Hegarty from Antony and the Johnsons, Lightning Bolt speed-drummer Brian Chippendale, avant-drummer-for-hire Chris Corsano, Congolese experimentalists Konono No 1 and an Icelandic brass section. The point seems to be emphasising great beats, and musical meeting points, as an antidote to world strife, and she's going to tour the world with a 30-piece band. We've heard five tracks.

Each is more dazzling than the last. Most newsworthy, perhaps, is lead single 'Earth Intruders', one of two amazing Timbaland-assisted beats. It finds Bjork returning playfully to the dancefloor after a long absence, with busy, loaded rhythms and Konono No 1 on what sound like Eighties arcade thumb pianos. Radically different is Bjork's lovey-dovey duet with Antony Hegarty. It's shaping up to be a crusading, troubled, joyous set.****